Shattered Rose
by SpaceSword16
Summary: Haruka unexpectedly gets custody of Hotaru Tomoe, who is nothing like the little girl that she had met months prior. While trying to balance her love life, career and raising the obviously scarred child can she and Michiru manage to both let go of their own pasts and move forward in order to raise the little girl?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: Don't own any characters.**

 **A/N: I wanna thank gabicg93 for the help on this story.**

 **Warning: There is a mention of child abuse in this story. Don't read if it will trigger you.**

Haruka sighed as she walked into the house, finding it too quiet since her breakup with her girlfriend. She sighed as she went over to her answering machine which was flashing, pressing the play button only to hear the sound of her ex's voice and the sound of crying in the background.

"I'm going to bring this little brat to you, she's just as stupid as you are anyway."

Haruka didn't know rather she wanted to strangle the woman or drive all the way across the city to personally pick up the child.

 _That bitch doesn't need a kid to begin with._

She thought as the message switched over to another one, this one a musical, soft voice.

"Hey, Haruka. I was wondering if you had anything planned for tomorrow night?"

Sighing she quickly wrote down the later's number and then hit clear all on the machine before heading toward the kitchen.

 _It's been a month since she left you, you have all the right to start dating again._

She reminded herself just as the doorbell rang.

Opening the door she saw a familiar, sniveling little girl standing on the step holding nothing more than a suitcase.

"I'll tell the lawyer that I sign all my rights to the brat away! I don't need her!"

Haruka had to remind herself that the crying child needed her, else she would have murdered the woman already.

"Fine! Do that!"

She called, putting a hand on the child's shoulder and leading her into the house.

"Hotaru? What happened?"

She asked once they were inside, kneeling down to help the child remove her jacket and shoes only to see a faint bruise on the side of the child's face.

"Did she hit you?"

The little girl nodded, earning a groan from Haruka.

"Well you don't have to worry about _that_ here."

She stated, trying to control her temper as so not to scare the child.

Once she had hung up the child's jacket, Haruka lifted Hotaru up into her arms and carried her toward the kitchen.

"I was just about to make dinner, does mac and cheese and chicken tenders sound good?"

She asked, earning a nod.

She remembered Hotaru talking more when they had first gotten custody of her after her father (a friend of Haruka's ex) had been killed in a car accident so she assumed that whatever had happened within the last month was the cause of the sudden lack of speech.

"Why don't you take your backpack up to your room then come down and you can help me with dinner?"

She asked, watching as the little girl's eyes lit up.

"Okay!"

Haruka chuckled at this and sighed, picking up the phone to call the number she had taken down while she waited on the child.

"Michiru? Yeah, it's me. I _may_ be on for tomorrow if you don't mind making this a dinner for three."

She stated,

Michiru tried to hide her disappointment as she replied

"that'll be fine."

Haruka however picked up on it and sighed.

"Remember the ex I was telling you about? The one that gave me joint custody of the seven year old? yeah...well...Evidently she couldn't handle having a kid around so now Hotaru's living here and there's no way I can find a decent babysitter in such short notice."

She explained, noticing that the little girl in question was paused in the stairwell, seemingly frozen in place.

Michiru felt relief when she heard that it was just that.

"It's fine Haruka...I'll tell you what, I'll let you go and get her settled in, I'll meet you at your place around six tomorrow?" She suggested.

"Sounds good to me." Haruka responded.

Once she finally hung up she turned to Hotaru and smiled slightly.

"Now for dinner."

She stated standing up, only to feel the little girl tug at her pants.

"Was that your girlfriend?"

She asked, earning a blush from Haruka who glanced up.

"Well…..not _exactly…._ it's complicated. Why don't you not worry too much about that okay Hime-chan?"

Haruka stated, ruffling her hair only to notice how the girl flinched slightly at the playful gesture.

 _Damn, what did that hag do to her?_

She wondered as she added softly

"How about you pick out what we have for dessert while I shred the cheese?"

The little girl's eyes grew wide at this before she nodded.

 _Why do I have the feeling that I will want to strangle that bitch by the end of tonight? Seriously, she never looked this surprised at the idea of actually having a say in dinner before._

Sighing Haruka just headed toward the kitchen, followed closely by Hotaru.

Haruka busied herself with making dinner while Hotaru helped by setting the table and by pouring drinks for the both of them.

"Can I help with anything else?"

Hotaru asked meekly, wincing when Haruka turned to face her.

 _what the hell? she took a full step back, she's never done that before and I always move fast!_

Haruka thought, biting back the sound that built in back of her throat because she could only imagine what the little girl had been put through.

"Well...I need someone to help me make the cake. How would you like to do that?"

she asked

As they put together the mix Haruka was relieved to hear the little girl laugh when the mixer splashed some of the contents up onto Haruka's shirt.

"Ah! C'mon! my favorite shirt!"

Haruka exclaimed, earning more laughter from the child.

Haruka grinned at this and ruffled the child's hair.

"Now all that's left to do is put this in to bake." she stated, pouring the batter into a pan before glancing down at the young girl.

 _"_ If you promise to actually eat most of your dinner I'll even let you have the rest of the batter in this...though it is pure sugar."

she stated mischievously, knowing that this was probably a bad idea but still, seeing the little girl actually smile was well worth it.


	2. Chapter 2

Haruka lay in bed later that night when she heard a crack of thunder sound, rattling the windows of the house.

 _Jeez...They said rain showers not a freakin' thunderstorm!_

She thought just as she heard a crash come from down the hall.

 _I see she's still afraid of thunder._

She thought as she got up, walking toward the bedroom.

When she walked into the child's room she was surprised to hear the little girl suddenly start begging for her not to be angry.

"Princess….Stop. It's okay, I'm not mad...I wanted to check on you because you were afraid of storms before. No need to freak out."

Haruka said soothingly as she slowly came over to the bed, kneeling beside it only to have the little girl suddenly fling herself into her arms.

Haruka picked her up then, feeling Hotaru's small arms wrap around her neck tightly as she nuzzled into Haruka's chest.

"Shh...you're okay. You're safe...I'm here."

Haruka murmured, resting her chin atop the small girl's head as she carried her out of the small, dimly lit room and into her own.

"I know princess...It's loud but it's just sound..you're okay even if it is scary."

Haruka muttered soothingly, sitting the child on her lap and letting her cling to her.

The next morning Haruka woke up to find Hotaru snuggled against her, still clinging to her shirt.

She heard the sound of the doorbell downstairs and groaned, getting out of bed after gently detaching herself from the child, tucking her in before heading downstairs.

Opening the door she felt herself blush when she saw who was standing at the door.

"Oh my."

Michiru laughed, seeing the blonde standing there in her pajamas.

"Don't start...I had a rough night."

Haruka retorted, moving and motioning the other woman into the house.

"The storm kept the little girl up?"

Michiru guessed, earning a laugh.

"Oh that's not the half of it. The kid was fucking terrified of _me_ when I went to check on her. I don't know what that bitch did to her _but_ it has the poor kid terrified of any adult. She even flinched when I turned to face her last night while we were fixing dinner!"

Haruka ranted, only to feel a hand rest on her shoulder.

"Calm down, if you start yelling you'll just wake her up and she'll think she has done something wrong." Michiru reminded her gently, earning a sigh.

"sorry...It just pisses me off that someone would hurt a _little girl_ so much as to make her afraid of even smiling." Haruka retorted, feeling arms wrap around her from behind.

"I know. I can't believe someone would do such a thing."

Michiru retorted, earning a nod.

"I hate to ask but would you mind waiting down here while I go get changed and then waking up Hotaru?"

Haruka stated earning a nod.

"I'll start making brunch if that's okay with you, we can just hang around your place if you want."

Michiru stated, earning a grateful look.

"thanks Michi, I owe you a proper date as soon as everything settles down."

Haruka retorted before vanishing upstairs.

Haruka chuckled as she nudged Hotaru, getting swatted at by the sleepy child who just rolled over.

"Taru, time to get up."

She called, trying not to laugh as she little girl sat up.

"Ruka-Papa….I didn't sleep well."

She whined tiredly, earning a laugh.

"I know little firefly but there's someone here that I want you to meet _and_ I am sure that you need food." Haruka retorted with a grin.

Hotaru didn't argue when Haruka picked her up, carrying her down into the kitchen.

"Hotaru, I want you to meet Michiru Kaiou, the girl I was talking to last night on the phone."

Haruka introduced, watching as the little girl's eyes went wide.

"She's pretty."

Hotaru stated causing Michiru to blush slightly and Haruka to laugh.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: this chapter was co-writen with gabicg93**

After breakfast Michiru turned toward Hotaru, noticing how the little girl flinched away from her.

"I'm not gonna hurt you sweetheart. I was just going to ask what you wanted to do today?"

She asked softly, watching as the child's eyes grew wide at the question.

"Can we go swimming?"

Hotaru asked timidly, earning a small smile from Michiru who glanced at Haruka who shrugged.

"Sounds fine by me."

She stated, turning to Hotaru and saying

"Go get your swimsuit on under a pair of shorts or something and then we'll stop by Michiru's house to get hers."

Haruka stated, sighing as soon as Hotaru had disappeared upstairs.

"She's a shell of her former self, she use to be so energetic but now...she's even worse than what she was like when her father died. I don't know what happened within the last few months."

Haruka sighed, only to feel arms wrap around her.

"I know we'll be able to get her comfortable with people."

Michiru stated, kissing her cheek.

Haruka blushed when she caught what Michiru had said though before she could manage a response her lover lightly swatted her on the backside before adding playfully.

"Go on or you're going to hold us up."

She said playfully, trying not to chuckle at how red Haruka's face got.

When Haruka left the room Michiru let out a small laugh and began to clean up the dishes, only to hear timid steps stop by the door, causing her to sigh.

 _No child should be that afraid of people, especially not the ones that will take care of them._

She thought, turning to face the child.

"Is there something wrong princess?"

She asked softly, earning a shake of the head.

"No...Thank you for asking Ma'am."

She stated, the wording too mature for a seven year old child to use.

"I agreed to this but I swear if my head goes under water I am going to toss someone off the diving board."

Haruka called playfully as she walked into the room, buttoning up a pale blue flannel short sleeve shirt.

"I'll remember that."

Michiru stated, winking at Hotaru who gave her a ghost of a smile.

"Let's get going before we all grow too old to go." Haruka stated jokingly.

When they had reached the pool Haruka went into the water, easily dodging Michiru who plopped into the water, making a splash just to soak Haruka who glared lightly at her.

"Really mature Michi."

She stated before swimming over ot where Hotaru was, lightly splashing her before adding

"C'mon firefly, you're the one who wanted to go swimming."

She challenged playfully.

Hotaru slipped into the water, only to earn another splash by Haruka who was grinning like a cheshire cat.

"No fair Haruka-papa!"

Hotaru yelped, splashing back.

While Haruka was so busy playing with Hotaru that she didn't notice Michiru swimming underwater toward Haruka, causing her to have to bite back a giggle.

"What's wrong?"

Haruka asked the girl, though before Hotaru could have time to come up with something Haruka found herself being knocked underwater.

As she resurfaced, gasping and coughing she heard laughter, causing her to glance toward Hotaru who was laughing.

Haruka, despite her coughing fit couldn't help but smile toward Michiru who grinned back.

"You're lucky I love you."

Haruka commented, still spluttering though her eyes sparkled playfully.

Hotaru tried to stop smiling then but just as she was about to apologize Haruka dunked Michiru back underwater, only for her to pop back up and splash Haruka from behind.

"It is so on!" Haruka growled softly, sending a wave of water toward Michiru.

Hotaru got caught up in the fray of playful banter, seemingly forgetting her fear as she sent waves of water at the pair of young women.

"Why don't we go out for ice cream before heading somewhere for lunch?"

Michiru suggested later, while she was just floating on the water.

"I think it sounds good."

Haruka stated before glancing over at Hotaru and asking

"What do you think Princess? Want ice cream?"

She asked, earning a shy shrug from Hotaru.

"Oh come on, we don't bite ya know." Haruka groaned, playfully as she pulled the little girl over to her, earning a squeal from the younger girl though it wasn't from fear.

"Now you want ice cream or not runt?" she asked, pressing a kiss to Hotaru's temple and earned a light nod

"Then ice cream it is then."

Haruka chuckled before adding

"Come on, let's get out before we turn into prunes."


End file.
